The Roland TR-808 is the most iconic, vintage instrument in hip-hop and electronic music history. Without the "808", the music you hear today would be different. Many people don't know, but Roland originally designed the TR-808 as an accompaniment machine for guitarists. It was not a successful product and after production ceased, many TR-808s found there way into pawn shops and the like. From there is where burgeoning hip-hop producers discovered it, and tweaked it in ways unthought of. The machine was designed to make realistic sounding drum beats, not sub bass kicks that rattle your windows.

The people over at Consequence of Sound have just come across a TR-808 Adidas prototype sneaker! This fully functional TR-808 has tempo control and the ability to program beats!